Friday, February 19, 2016

Karolina Strassmayer & Drori Mondlak - Of Mystery And Beauty (2016)


Label: Drori Mondlak


Recorded at Bayerische Rundfunk Studio in Nürnberg, Germany in co-production with BR KLASSIK.
With their newest recording Of Mystery And Beauty alto saxophonist Karolina Strassmayer and drummer Drori Mondlak continue their creative collaboration that began in New York City in 2000.
In their seventh recording together their vision has crystallized into an original and deeply personal sound.
Strassmayer and Mondlak consider this collection of original compositions and solo improvisations to be their most powerful recording to date.
KLARO! fuses the romanticism of European classical and folk music with the rhythmic fire and swing of American jazz and the harmonic sophistication of contemporary improvised music.
Pianist Rainer Böhm and bassist John Goldsby complete the quartet.
“Beauty means different things to different people. But there is a universal truth about it, regardless of taste and aesthetic; beauty has the power to move the heart,” says Karolina Strassmayer.
Internationally renowned journalist Hrayr Attarian writes….
“Simultaneously unconventional and accessible Of Mystery and Beauty is an imaginative work. With charm and intelligence it eschews both abstruseness and banality. It engrosses with its diversity yet remains conceptually cohesive. It stimulates and moves with its ingenious complexity and fascinating fluidity. In short it is, to date, Strassmayer and Mondlak's finest disc and one that surely will stand the test of time..” 


01. From Her Pale Blue Home (7:46)
02. Of Mystery And Beauty (9:05)
03. Postcard From A Quiet Place (6:25)
04. Fanfare From Another World (7:27)
05. Wandering (7:18)
06. Gently Spoke The Mermaid (6:43)
07. Four Us All (4:08)
08. Of Space And Rest (6:38)
09. Side To Side (5:00)
10. Cascades (3:54)
11. Still In Her Ears (5:22)

Karolina Strassmayer: alto saxophone, flute
Drori Mondlak: drums
John Goldsby: bass
Rainer Böhm: piano  


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